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Glenn Moon Inc., which sits between a restaurant equipment outlet and an industrial supply shop, displays other signs of homage to its namesake throughout the building: an apple-cinnamon candle in a jar, just an inch and a half left, first lit two years ago when Mr. Moon was diagnosed with colon cancer.

There are the tools of his trade — a faded paper wheel to calculate duct sizes; an old hand brake used to bend sheet metal.

And there is Mr. Moon's office itself, the only quiet office in the building and by far the largest. Rows of plaques line a wall in honor of his work with the Pinellas County Democratic Party's executive committee and a term on the Pinellas Park City Council.

Another wall features evidence of Mr. Moon's irreverent sense of humor. A lawyer's image in an advertisement has been defaced, modified with fangs, a tuxedo and a widow's peak in black ink. "Yes! I am injured," reads a note penned in Mr. Moon's neat capital letters. "I have two holes in my neck!"

Born in Tallahassee, Mr. Moon served three years with the Army and another three with the Marines, where he taught marksmanship. In 1966, while a sheet metal journeyman, Mr. Moon, then 31, defeated an incumbent for the Pinellas Park City Council by eight votes.

He led a successful move to expand and relocate the Pinellas Park Public Library to its current site. He did not seek re-election. In 1970, he served as the Pinellas County chairman for Lawton Chiles' successful gubernatorial campaign.

As the head of Glenn Moon Inc., the company he founded in 1969, he supplied heating, ventilating and air conditioning, and also obtained a contractor's license for construction work.

"He ran the ship with an iron fist but also had a heart of gold," said Don Cook, 69, his right-hand man in sales. "We're all like family. He's helped each and every one of us out at one time or another financially."

As for his own needs, Mr. Moon wore shirts bought 20 years ago and drove a 12-year-old Mercedes, said Jackie Brown, his companion of six years.

Mr. Moon had three daughters, but none could be reached for comment. Brown and co-workers said he was estranged from some of his family. The name of one daughter was omitted from a paid obituary that ran in the St. Petersburg Times.

Mr. Moon died at home Jan. 22, Brown and Cook at his bedside. He was 76.

According to employees Natasha Wood, Stephanie Severson-Welte and Brown, Mr. Moon left his company to the three of them.

"He taught me everything I know," said Wood, 30.

After starting eight years ago answering phones, she is now the company's acting president.

Andrew Meacham can be reached at (727) 892-2248 or ameacham@sptimes.com.